First, I would like to say that the work on the Blackfeather Bridge area is outstanding! And I think it could actually be scripted / macro'd some how so that each map could be updated in a manual automated way.
That said though, something isn't right with that older version of the map. If you look at the parent map, the River Ashaba is the only one in the area. Nothing in the parent map looks like it matches anything about the layout in that older version map. For the 'new' map, using the source listed in the map notes (Volo's Guide to the Dalelands) or the Forgotten Realms Wiki, I can find references to things on the map.
For the 'old' map (which has a different source - Volo's Guide to Waterdeep), I can't find a reference to of any kind to Clifford, Meredith's Way, The Happy Sheep, or Big John (the person or the tavern). So it doesn't look like it belongs in the area, and I can't find where it maybe does belong.
. So it doesn't look like it belongs in the area, and I can't find where it maybe does belong.
Who managed to rip info from the files. ie. the Ravenloft ones. The product info there really help to figure out where that stuff belonged to. There are a few other maps I know, which I cannot find the origin of them. I am sure I noted them on the original post.
Thanks everyone, I've enjoyed working on this little and growing bigger project.
For the 'old' map (which has a different source - Volo's Guide to Waterdeep), I can't find a reference to of any kind to Clifford, Meredith's Way, The Happy Sheep, or Big John (the person or the tavern). So it doesn't look like it belongs in the area, and I can't find where it maybe does belong.
You're right @thehawk , I jumped too quickly to conclusions.
And my search-foo is also ineffective. I don't know if Ralf or Monsen were part of the mapping team back then and maybe, just maybe, remember something or have some old files to dig this out?
Or maybe we could ask Ed Greenwood to see if he recognizes that map/village?
.5640 Temple of Moander.FCW"LINK FROM YULASH 5450 pit temple of moander
use map 5450 yulash.fcw from update one, contains the missing link
the following maps need to be used from update 1
10005 arkenham
10006 falls Creek
archendale
Any other combination of them will result in wrong names on the archendale map, or broken links heading to no maps
I am now going to concentrate on the Sembia map. The one from update 3 has a broken link to the High Dale.
Different maps of sembia then open different versions of the high dale map. So I am going to go through all the combinations to see which actually works the best in the overall original intention of the map.
Does anyone know the Desert of Desolation adventure? I have almost every physical copy of 1st and 2nd edition stuff. But I don't read the modules because I don't want to spoil possible playthroughs. For some reason the 30021 & 30030 citadel of martek are unlinked to any of the other maps that I can find. So I am at a bit of an impasse there.
Using the versions of 30021 and 30030 in Update3, this is what I get when I just hit the 'parent' button in each: 30021 -> Desert of Desolation -> Durpar -> B1dSWlc 30030 -> 30032 Garden of the Cursed -> Desert of Desolation -> Durpar -> B1dSWlc
Attached are the dumps from each of the links it thinks it has.
I think the 30030 is supposed to actually be called 'Grand Hall of the Crystal Prism'.
That was the very first thing I found, which inspired me to do this project. I renamed those files, so they would link, but I never looked more closely at other update files. Until someone mentioned some maps were different with each given update. (sorry can't recall whom)
Open up Sembia and boom a whole can of worms.
Ha the Sembia section may end up being one of personal preference for detail.
Yea all of that has me confused. It seems a bunch of interconnected stuff isn't connected. And/or named incorrectly.
It's actually not too bad (no idea why it insists on putting that 1. in there):
Action: 2d hotspot: color 7 (purple) layer 293 (Map Links) line style 0 (Solid) fill style 1 (Solid) line width 0.00000 tag # 12703 pen 0.000 mm 2nd color 7 Hotspot rectangle lower-left 0,0 upper-right 1,1 Action macro text: LOADM $Desert of Desolation.fcw;
The first three lines are the description of the what and how of the shape. Four and five is the definition of where the link is on the page, then 'Action macro text' and finally the name of the file to load.
I haven't tried to figure out what that little 1x1 square at the bottom left is for, but seems like most of the maps I've looked at so far have it.
Pruning down the data in the file, we get:
Filename Line -------- ---- 30021 Citadel of Martek Desert of Desolation.fcw 30021 Citadel of Martek Desert of Desolation.fcw ================================= 30030 Citadel of Martek 30031 Black Abyss.FCW 30030 Citadel of Martek 30068 Mobius Tower.FCW 30030 Citadel of Martek Desert of Al-Alisk.FCW 30030 Citadel of Martek 30032 Garden of the Cursed.FCW 30030 Citadel of Martek 30032 Garden of the Cursed.FCW 30030 Citadel of Martek 30032 Garden of the Cursed.FCW 30030 Citadel of Martek 30021 Citadel of Martek.FCW
So the 30021 file just has links back up to its parent, no child links.
The 30030 file has links up to the parent, which it thinks is 30032 Garden of the Cursed, and out to four down-level.
Aaaand reading through the module, it will take a bit of reading to see how the things are actually all supposed to fit together.
I haven't tried to figure out what that little 1x1 square at the bottom left is for, but seems like most of the maps I've looked at so far have it.
That little square in the bottom of each map is a link to the upper/parent map. I think it is a left over placeholder from production of the atlas. kind of a reference.
Great work on the desert of desolation section, thanks a ton.
I have been going through the sembia and it's four versions. So far it looks like update 2 and update 3 are the forerunners. Though update 3 has multiple broken links. Now I will have to go through 16 child maps and the 4 versions or so of each to find the best candidate for each. UGGGG!
I did find reference to
10024 heggars bridge
It only appears on sembia update 1 in the top right corner by harrowdale. So that will have to be a manual add in when the best sembia map is picked.
I think I have an answer to making feasible to for automating the cleanup of links - after the initial cleanup has been determined. At least for the shapes. Haven't figured out Text hostpots yet (like in the Raven's Bluff map).
Once the links in a map are corrected, do an export (as has been discussed before) from each map. Then parse those files into a macro file. I am doing some experimenting, and so far have the below as my test file (fria-repair.mac). As far as I can tell, it is creating the hotspot correctly, and linking it to the map I am telling it to. But then when I click it, I have to push enter before it loads the new map. It also doesn't seem to be saving the file when I tell it to? Can a knowledgeable Macro person give me some ideas?
macro update2-test-1 selsave savesettings
color 7 lwidth 0.00000 lstyle 0 fstyle 1 layer map links actionm loadm $Desert of Desolation.fcw;0,0;100,100; save
:MacroDone getsettings selrest endm
macro update2-test-2 selsave savesettings
color 7 lwidth 0.00000 lstyle 0 fstyle 1 layer map links actionm loadm $Toril.fcw;150,150;300,300; save
Not in front of my computer to test this and provide a working solution, but the having to press enter symptom means one of two (related) things:
The line is not terminated properly. Single line macros that have inputs that can contain spaces (like a file name) must be terminated by a ;-character. If this is missing, the line is not complete, and you need to hit enter to complete it.
There's a ; where it is not needed. If the line was already terminated, an extra ; would be considered a blank statement, which means repeat the previous command. This only repeats the command, but not the parameters, which means it starts asking for them, and enter then means accept defaults.
Not sure how to best have that macro of yours create a Hotspot with the proper termination, I need to do some testing to figure out that, and that won't happen now, but hopefully this helps you figure out what to look into. I am pretty sure you don't want that ; at the very end of your action lined above though, but that isn't the complete fix.
Wow you two are a pair of pretty smart people's. I have never got around to doing macro's in anything. Don't have the patience for that.
Nice work though to try get it to automate the whole thing. I was thinking about going through all 850 maps manually with 4 instances of CC3+ open. I'll put that on hold for a bit to see if you can accomplish that work in probably 1/100 th the time lol.
You're right, it doesn't seem to care about that ; at the end of the statement. As far as I can tell it does the same thing either way?
It acts like it needs an escape character because I need two delimiters, one for the LOADM that I don't want ACTIONM to do anything with, then the second that I do want it to parse as the end of the text string. The syntax of ACTIONM is: sText;xyCorner1;xycorner2, and LOADM is fFilename but all the examples I see have the ending ;. So to get it into the macro, it looks like it needs to be LOADM $realmsmap1.fcw;;xyCorner1;xycorner2, but then it throws up on that. I also tried putting the LOADM statement into a variable, with similar results. Some worse than others.
gl vsString loadm $Toril.fcw;
actionm vsString;150,150;300,300
So now talking through all that, maybe we have to create the hotspot with one action and some placeholder text, then edit it in another line?
@Don V Anderson Jr. I think it only counts as smart if it can be made to do what we want it to do. Otherwise it's just an exercise of bang your head / metal health will drive you mad. I don't think this will replace your visual scanning of the maps to define which set of links is correct - and that's even assuming that all the links in a single file are all the correct ones. I think the only thing that can be done to cut down on that part is to compare file dates and not have to review versions with the same dates. Although a lot of them got touched for Update 3. I hope you have a big monitor. Or two.
I use my 65" 4k. My new laptop outputs to it so awesome. I put one instance of CC3 in each corner of the screen and go through the update folders.
Disc only -----update 1
update 2 -----update 3
Pretty quick to compare maps and all the linked hotspots with View Hyperlinks On. I just have to make sure I always open the correct folders with each instance of CC. I was surprised how quickly I got through all the Sembia stuff like that.
You're right, it doesn't seem to care about that ; at the end of the statement. As far as I can tell it does the same thing either way?
No, it cares quite a bit. Try making a macro that just looks like this
MACRO TTT
actionm test map;150,150;300,300
ENDM
and it will work just fine. But try it like this
MACRO TTT
actionm test map;150,150;300,300;
ENDM
and you will find CC3+ tries to repeat the actionm command, and you'll see the command line prompting you for the action text. This is why it is so vital to use the ;-character correctly.
Unfortunately, putting things into a variable like you did don't work. This is because the variable gets expanded inline in that command, and even if you managed to get the ;-character into the variable with GL, it still means the final command CC3+ tries to run looks like this actionm loadm $Toril.fcw;;150,150;300,300 with that extra ; in the middle.
Wife found my copy of the CD so I'll start working on doing the corrections. I was wondering if the spreadsheet file (FRIA-Repair.xlsx) has been updated to reflect any changes since it was posted? If so is it possible to post the latest version?
I've been keeping a spreadsheet of my own to keep track of the things I've tested, but I also try to keep up with Don and thehawk and write down their observations... It's not the XLSX you're asking for, but it's similar.
Comments
Sure.
Though I'm not sure how much level of detail we need for such a guide, but here goes (I just noticed a typo in one of my images above):
Create "10020 Blackfeather Bridge Village.FCW"
"10020 Blackfeather Bridge.FCW" (from Update2 or Update3)
"Featherdale.FCW"
I'll give this a go after work tonight and let you know my results.
Heads up: I edited my post above to specify that "10020 Blackfeather Bridge.FCW" should be taken from Update2 or Update3.
That said though, something isn't right with that older version of the map. If you look at the parent map, the River Ashaba is the only one in the area. Nothing in the parent map looks like it matches anything about the layout in that older version map. For the 'new' map, using the source listed in the map notes (Volo's Guide to the Dalelands) or the Forgotten Realms Wiki, I can find references to things on the map.
For the 'old' map (which has a different source - Volo's Guide to Waterdeep), I can't find a reference to of any kind to Clifford, Meredith's Way, The Happy Sheep, or Big John (the person or the tavern). So it doesn't look like it belongs in the area, and I can't find where it maybe does belong.
I found it easier to create each file first. Then I went about linking the hotspots. (just because of the menu's) Maybe just the way I did it.
But as I say there is always a ton of ways to do something, it doesn't matter, only the final product.
Thanks for that great find and contribution to the effort as a whole.
. So it doesn't look like it belongs in the area, and I can't find where it maybe does belong.
Who managed to rip info from the files. ie. the Ravenloft ones. The product info there really help to figure out where that stuff belonged to. There are a few other maps I know, which I cannot find the origin of them. I am sure I noted them on the original post.
Thanks everyone, I've enjoyed working on this little and growing bigger project.
For the 'old' map (which has a different source - Volo's Guide to Waterdeep), I can't find a reference to of any kind to Clifford, Meredith's Way, The Happy Sheep, or Big John (the person or the tavern). So it doesn't look like it belongs in the area, and I can't find where it maybe does belong.
You're right @thehawk , I jumped too quickly to conclusions.
And my search-foo is also ineffective. I don't know if Ralf or Monsen were part of the mapping team back then and maybe, just maybe, remember something or have some old files to dig this out?
Or maybe we could ask Ed Greenwood to see if he recognizes that map/village?
Wow. Those old maps are hideous. Nice to see how much better CC is now compared to then. There has been a lot of progress.
I love them.
I am amazed at how powerful Campaign Cartographer 3 has become. The works people have been doing with this program blow me away.
.2730 Under Elmwood.fcw"LINK FROM ELMWOOD4080 under the old well
use 4080 Elmwood.fcw from update 1 fixes missing link
Hi. You have a typo. It should be 4080 instead of 4030.
I was using my notes. Noticed the error there. Didn't clue in to fix it here. Thanks for pointing it out.
.5640 Temple of Moander.FCW"LINK FROM YULASH 5450 pit temple of moander
use map 5450 yulash.fcw from update one, contains the missing link
the following maps need to be used from update 1
10005 arkenham
10006 falls Creek
archendale
Any other combination of them will result in wrong names on the archendale map, or broken links heading to no maps
I am now going to concentrate on the Sembia map. The one from update 3 has a broken link to the High Dale.
Different maps of sembia then open different versions of the high dale map. So I am going to go through all the combinations to see which actually works the best in the overall original intention of the map.
Does anyone know the Desert of Desolation adventure? I have almost every physical copy of 1st and 2nd edition stuff. But I don't read the modules because I don't want to spoil possible playthroughs. For some reason the 30021 & 30030 citadel of martek are unlinked to any of the other maps that I can find. So I am at a bit of an impasse there.
30021 -> Desert of Desolation -> Durpar -> B1dSWlc
30030 -> 30032 Garden of the Cursed -> Desert of Desolation -> Durpar -> B1dSWlc
Attached are the dumps from each of the links it thinks it has.
I think the 30030 is supposed to actually be called 'Grand Hall of the Crystal Prism'.
Yea all of that has me confused. It seems a bunch of interconnected stuff isn't connected. And/or named incorrectly.
Hi,
Loos like you found an interesing one @Don V Anderson Jr. ...
the following maps need to be used from update 1
[...]
archendale
Any other combination of them will result in wrong names on the archendale map, or broken links heading to no maps
On one hand, like you correctly point out, the one from update2 has some broken links:
Namely, Nairning and Ramblecoats don't lead to any existing map.
However, the map does have more detail than the one from update1:
I think I'd prefer to have the Up2 version, but changing Nairning to Fall's Creek and Ramblecoats to Arkhenham.
EDIT: Fall's Creek and Arkhenham do exist in Up2 and their parents both point to Archendale.
That was the very first thing I found, which inspired me to do this project. I renamed those files, so they would link, but I never looked more closely at other update files. Until someone mentioned some maps were different with each given update. (sorry can't recall whom)
Open up Sembia and boom a whole can of worms.
Ha the Sembia section may end up being one of personal preference for detail.
I haven't tried to figure out what that little 1x1 square at the bottom left is for, but seems like most of the maps I've looked at so far have it.
Pruning down the data in the file, we get: So the 30021 file just has links back up to its parent, no child links.
The 30030 file has links up to the parent, which it thinks is 30032 Garden of the Cursed, and out to four down-level.
Aaaand reading through the module, it will take a bit of reading to see how the things are actually all supposed to fit together.
I haven't tried to figure out what that little 1x1 square at the bottom left is for, but seems like most of the maps I've looked at so far have it.
That little square in the bottom of each map is a link to the upper/parent map. I think it is a left over placeholder from production of the atlas. kind of a reference.
Great work on the desert of desolation section, thanks a ton.
I have been going through the sembia and it's four versions. So far it looks like update 2 and update 3 are the forerunners. Though update 3 has multiple broken links. Now I will have to go through 16 child maps and the 4 versions or so of each to find the best candidate for each. UGGGG!
I did find reference to
10024 heggars bridge
It only appears on sembia update 1 in the top right corner by harrowdale. So that will have to be a manual add in when the best sembia map is picked.
Went through all of the Sembia child maps. Goes fast when you have four instances of the atlas up at once.
I suggest using all the maps from update 3. There are 2 broken links that have to be fixed, The link to Highdale and the typical sembian farm.
Actually found another lost map, rising moon is on update 1 of deepingdale
6190 the rising moon is in deepingdale located next to highdale. So that will have to be added onto the update 3 version of the map.
So much progress. I think there are about a dozen missing map links, Haven't been able to find parent map locations of those.
Then about 20-30 links that have to be fixed. I'll try post a list of the latest missing stuff tomorrow.
Once the links in a map are corrected, do an export (as has been discussed before) from each map. Then parse those files into a macro file. I am doing some experimenting, and so far have the below as my test file (fria-repair.mac). As far as I can tell, it is creating the hotspot correctly, and linking it to the map I am telling it to. But then when I click it, I have to push enter before it loads the new map. It also doesn't seem to be saving the file when I tell it to? Can a knowledgeable Macro person give me some ideas?
Not in front of my computer to test this and provide a working solution, but the having to press enter symptom means one of two (related) things:
Not sure how to best have that macro of yours create a Hotspot with the proper termination, I need to do some testing to figure out that, and that won't happen now, but hopefully this helps you figure out what to look into. I am pretty sure you don't want that ; at the very end of your action lined above though, but that isn't the complete fix.
Wow you two are a pair of pretty smart people's. I have never got around to doing macro's in anything. Don't have the patience for that.
Nice work though to try get it to automate the whole thing. I was thinking about going through all 850 maps manually with 4 instances of CC3+ open. I'll put that on hold for a bit to see if you can accomplish that work in probably 1/100 th the time lol.
Awesome efforts.
It acts like it needs an escape character because I need two delimiters, one for the LOADM that I don't want ACTIONM to do anything with, then the second that I do want it to parse as the end of the text string. The syntax of ACTIONM is: sText;xyCorner1;xycorner2, and LOADM is fFilename but all the examples I see have the ending ;. So to get it into the macro, it looks like it needs to be LOADM $realmsmap1.fcw;;xyCorner1;xycorner2, but then it throws up on that. I also tried putting the LOADM statement into a variable, with similar results. Some worse than others.
gl vsString loadm $Toril.fcw; actionm vsString;150,150;300,300So now talking through all that, maybe we have to create the hotspot with one action and some placeholder text, then edit it in another line?
@Don V Anderson Jr. I think it only counts as smart if it can be made to do what we want it to do. Otherwise it's just an exercise of bang your head / metal health will drive you mad.
I don't think this will replace your visual scanning of the maps to define which set of links is correct - and that's even assuming that all the links in a single file are all the correct ones. I think the only thing that can be done to cut down on that part is to compare file dates and not have to review versions with the same dates. Although a lot of them got touched for Update 3. I hope you have a big monitor. Or two.
I hope you have a big monitor. Or two.
I use my 65" 4k. My new laptop outputs to it so awesome. I put one instance of CC3 in each corner of the screen and go through the update folders.
Disc only -----update 1
update 2 -----update 3
Pretty quick to compare maps and all the linked hotspots with View Hyperlinks On. I just have to make sure I always open the correct folders with each instance of CC. I was surprised how quickly I got through all the Sembia stuff like that.
You're right, it doesn't seem to care about that ; at the end of the statement. As far as I can tell it does the same thing either way?
No, it cares quite a bit. Try making a macro that just looks like this
and it will work just fine. But try it like this
and you will find CC3+ tries to repeat the actionm command, and you'll see the command line prompting you for the action text. This is why it is so vital to use the ;-character correctly.
Unfortunately, putting things into a variable like you did don't work. This is because the variable gets expanded inline in that command, and even if you managed to get the ;-character into the variable with GL, it still means the final command CC3+ tries to run looks like this
actionm loadm $Toril.fcw;;150,150;300,300with that extra ; in the middle.This should work though
The magic lies in the use of the APND command. Watch the spacing.
Wife found my copy of the CD so I'll start working on doing the corrections. I was wondering if the spreadsheet file (FRIA-Repair.xlsx) has been updated to reflect any changes since it was posted? If so is it possible to post the latest version?
Thank You
I have been doing changes post by post. I haven't updated the main post, due to them being locked out after 1 week.
Hopefully we are getting close to the end and can compile all the fixes in an easy to use guide.
Thank You
I've been keeping a spreadsheet of my own to keep track of the things I've tested, but I also try to keep up with Don and thehawk and write down their observations... It's not the XLSX you're asking for, but it's similar.
I'm attaching it to this post.